W.S. Darley & Co.

W.S. Darley & Co.
Names	W.S. Darley & Co.
Headquarters	Itasca, IL
Founder	William Stuart Darley
Key people	William Stuart Darley Paul Darley (CEO) Peter Darley(COO) Jeff Darley(COO)
Founded	1908
Products	Firefighting, emergency and defense equipment Outdoor warning sirens (formerly)
Website	https://www.darley.com/

W.S. Darley & Co. is a company founded by William S. Darley that has sold a wide variety of products since 1908, including fire apparatus equipment, traffic signals, robotics and defense equipment, as well as civil defense and fire sirens. While they no longer produce their own sirens, they currently sell rebranded Sentry products.

Original Darley Champions

Darley entered the siren business as early as 1928, when the demand for fire sirens was still quite high. Their first line of sirens was the Champions, a series of small omnidirectional sirens. These ranged from single and dual rotor horizontal sirens, as well as several vertical sirens. These came in many shapes and sizes. These were in production until the late 1930s.

Peerless Champion

The Peerless Champion is a dual headed siren, similar those used in Britain during WWII. They were meant for use as fire sirens, and their biggest competitor was Sterling Siren's Model M. These sirens were dual rotor single tone, and were never produced in dual tone. These used a dual sided 5 hp AC motor, driving two rotors, and were available in 8-port single tone. The motor sat on a large base stating "CHAMPION, W.S. DARLEY & CO, CHICAGO". These had thinner rotors than the Super Champion, with 4 long vanes and 4 short vanes. The intakes were styled with a flare on the stator, and the stator ports were protected by a mesh screen. The Peerless Champion did not last long in production, and only two units, both dual headed, are known to still exist today, far rarer than the more successful Super Champion.

Super Champion

The Super Champion is very similar to the Peerless Champion, but overall larger in size. The Super Champion uses longer rotors for better sound output, and is driven by a 7.5 hp dual sided AC motor. These Champions were much more successful than the Peerless Champion, due to their better performance. These came in both 8-port and 16-port single tone, with no dual tone options offered. Interestingly, the 16-port units use 16-port rotors inside of an 8-port stator, leading to significant undertones. Like the Peerless Champion, the rotors use 4 long vanes along with 4 or 12 short vanes depending on the port count. Both single and dual headed models are known to exist. The overall design of the Super Champion is largely identical otherwise to the Peerless Champion, and several units can still be found as noon blast sirens or fire sirens.

Royal Champion

The largest of the Champion horizontals, the Royal Champion was Darley's attempt at creating a louder Super Champion without requiring larger rotors. Little is known about this siren, as it was only mentioned once in a 1930s advertisement, though it is known that it was a 12 horsepower siren. It is likely that Darley took heavy inspiration by the Sterling Super Quad, and likely used a similar 4-rotor setup to justify the increase in horsepower. Its exact appearance is unknown, and there are no known surviving units today. Seeing as it was only ever mentioned in a 1930 advert, it was likely a flop and discontinued shortly after, a fate similarly met by the Super Quad.

Vertical Champion

Also commonly referred to (and misnamed) as the Darley 3V8, these are essentially a single headed Champion flipped on its side vertically, using the same rotor, stator and intake. The siren's motor was available in either 2.5 hp (using the rotor and stator from the Peerless Champion, named the "Champion Giant") or 5 hp (using the rotor and stator from the Super Champion, named the "Champion Fire Siren") and ran on three-phase 220 V AC power. The 2.5 hp variant was exclusively 8-port single tone, while the 5 hp variant was available in either 8-port or 12-port single tone. The intake on these sirens are protected by a large two-piece intake cover attached to the stator, which keeps debris and rain out of the rotor, and is often equipped with a mesh screen around the intake and stator ports. The motor itself is held up by three mounting legs, which attach to wherever the siren is mounted. 2.5 hp Vertical Champions have intake covers that extend halfway down the stator, while 5 hp ones have covers that don't extend past the width of the stator. These were some of the cheapest sirens available in the 1930s (advertised as "The Buy of 1932" in one ad), which made them quite popular at the time, and some have even found their way as far as Quebec, Canada.

Weatherproof Champions

The Weatherproof Champion is also a vertical siren, but these differ quite significantly to the standard Vertical Champions. These sirens were designed with durability and longevity in mind, rather than price and raw performance. Unlike the Vertical Champions, the Weatherproof Champions use a motor-over-rotor configuration, with the motor on top and the rotor and stator being located below, held up by a few supports. These sirens were placed inside weatherproof housings with a rounded top, and many slits are placed across the diameter of the housing to allow sound to escape, similar to a Sparton. While this does a much better job of protecting the siren itself from the elements, it does harm the siren's ability to project, and they tend to be quieter than other Champion models.

These came in three different varieties. The 2.5 hp version came exclusively in 6-port single tone, using a universal motor. These were very similar to the Federal Signal Model 2, and had overall shorter housings than the other Weatherproof Champions. The 5 hp version uses a standard 5 hp AC motor, and was available in either 8-port or 12-port single tone. The 12-port rotors on these use 6 long vanes and 6 short vanes, which gives it a significant rasp, similar to Sterling's 5VX. These are taller than the 2.5 hp model, and have two rows of slits. The 7.5 hp version is very similar to the 5 hp model, but comes exclusively in 12-port single tone, with a rotor that has all long vanes and no short vanes.

Later Weatherproof Champions were simply rebranded Fedelcode sirens, instead of Darley's own designs. These can be told apart from earlier Darley-designed models by the style of the louvres, as the louvres are bi-directional on Darley models, while the louvres are open on only one side on Federal rebranded Champions. Federal rebranded Champions also only have a single row of ports, and a two-piece rainshield. Darley models only have a single piece rainshield, and two rows of slits. Rebranded sirens included the C2 1/2, Model 1, and Model 2. These would be the standard Weatherproof Champion design until its discontinuation.

Champion Little Giant (Type 4A2¾U)

These are the smallest model that was available, and was Darley's take on Sterling's Little Giant siren. Running on a 1.5 hp single phase AC/DC motor at 110 V, which drove two 10-port rotors at 4000 RPM, this siren was meant for short range use by small rural volunteer fire departments, or industrial work lunch whistles. The rotors and stators are enclosed inside small stylized horns, resembling the shape of the stators used in the larger Champion models, and the stators lack a ring on the edge of the stator ports in a similar fashion to ACA Screamer sirens. The siren also comes with the W.S. Darley branded stand, which is removable. The siren was advertised as a low cost siren option, and was claimed to perform as well as sirens twice its size. These are rare to find compared to other Champion units. These are marked as "Type 4A2¾U" on the tag.

Federal Signal Rebrands

In the 1940s, W.S. Darley & Co. discontinued their original Champion line of sirens, instead partnering with Federal Signal (then Federal Electric) to produce rebranded versions of Federal's Fedelcode (and later Model 5) line of sirens. These sirens, like all of Darley's sirens, are also known as "Champions" and are identical mechanically to their Federal counterparts, using the exact same rotors, stators, and motors. The only difference between a Federal branded siren and a Darley branded siren is the housing. Darley's housings are much more rounded and ornate than Federal's, often resembling a fire hydrant. The dual tone variants of the Model 5 and Model 7 are marked on the tag with two "T"s (5TT and 7TT) instead of Federal's 5T and 7T. Interestingly, Darley's rebranded Model 2 uses a 2.5 hp motor instead of the standard 2 hp motor.

Darley made their own variants of the Federal Model A, Model L, Type 1, Type 2, Type 5 (C2 1/2), Type 7 (C3 1/2) and their dual tone variants, and the STH-10. Darley's variant of the STH-10 is particularly unique in that it has the core configured like its Model 5, with the core essentially flipped upside down with the motor below the rotor and the intake above it. Darley would produce rebranded Federal sirens until sometime in the 1960s. However, Darley continues to sell the Federal Signal Q-Siren to this day, as well as its electronic E-Q2B counterpart.

ACA Rebrands

In the 1970s, W.S. Darley & Co. partnered with Alerting Communicators of America (ACA) to produce rebranded versions of their sirens. These sirens were physically identical to their ACA counterparts, with the only difference being the addition of "DARLEY" branding on the housings of the sirens. These were sold under the Champion brand and often advertised by their horsepower rating, and many different models were sold including the Screamer, SuperBanshee, Allertor 125, and Hurricane 130 MKII.

In the 1980s, the Darley catalogue would be expanded, now also selling the standard Banshee 115 (referred to as the Banshee 10), Cyclone 120 and 125, Penetrator-15 (advertised as the P-10), and Penetrator-50, as well as the Alertronic line of electronic sirens (including the now-extinct Alertronic 5000). The sirens were now referred to by their ACA-given names, though they also kept their Darley-specific model names. The "DARLEY" branding on the housings was also removed by this point, making them indistinguishable from ACA-branded sirens. This partnership would continue through the 1980s, likely ending in the 1990s when ACA faced bankruptcy. It is unknown how many Darley-branded ACA sirens survive to this day, as the brandings on the sirens have likely faded, and later models lacked any branding. One W.S. Darley branded Allertor 125 is known to survive in service, located in Niles, MI.

Sentry Rebrands

During the 1980s, Darley also chose to partner with Sentry Siren, Inc. selling rebranded versions of their sirens. These rebranded Sentry sirens were sold alongside Darley's rebranded ACA sirens, until ACA went out of business in 1992. Originally, only the Sentry 10V2T and F-2 were offered, under the names "Dual Tone General Alert Siren" and "110/220V Alarm Siren". The short lived 10V2T-3S, F-5 and F-10 were also offered by Darley.

After ACA's bankruptcy, Darley continued to partner with Sentry exclusively, becoming one of many companies reselling Sentry's sirens. These sirens are identical to their Sentry counterparts, and are Sentry-branded from the factory. This makes it impossible to tell whether a given siren is from Sentry themselves, or from Darley. At least one siren is confirmed to have been bought from Darley, a 10V located in Glenbeulah, WI. Darley expanded their options, and as of today now sells rebrands of the F-2, E-6, 3V8 (and 3V8-H), 7V8, 10V, 14V, 10V2T (despite it being discontinued by Sentry) and the 15V2T (which Darley calls "the Decibel Busting 15HP Siren").

Darley is still partnered with Sentry today, and their sirens can be bought off of their eDarley website.